The Washington Post’s Korin Miller interviewed Tucker Carlson Friday about getting booted off of “Dancing with the Stars”…

Yes, he was the first dancer voted off the third season of “Dancing With the Stars.” And yes, he did the cha-cha in front of some 20 million in a low-cut top and slim-fitting pants. But Tucker Carlson says he feels “totally good” about his reality show debut.

“I couldn’t have had a better time,” the MSNBC host told us yesterday on the phone from Los Angeles, where he was voted off the results show on Wednesday night. “I think it was the most interesting, exciting thing I’ve done in a long time.” (What does that say about the day job?)

The Sun-Herald’s Pete Tattersall has an interview with Mississippi native and FNC anchor Shepard Smith…

It’s 2 p.m. on Aug. 30, and Shepard Smith is broadcasting to the world from the corner of Market and Second streets in the heart of this ravaged town.

Smith, an anchor for the ratings juggernaut known as Fox News Channel who was born and raised in Holly Springs, is dressed in cargo shorts, flip-flops and a comfortable but fashionable shirt. Recently returned from a monthlong assignment in the war-torn region of Israel and Lebanon, the 42-year-old Smith is holding court in another disaster zone - South Mississippi.

As he anchors his two popular news shows, “Studio B with Shepard Smith” (2 p.m.) and “Fox Report with Shepard Smith” (6 p.m.), from this small town, people pull their cars to the side of the road and openly gawk.

Mary Housey, 37, of Pass Christian, dashes up, waits for a break in the live broadcast and presents Smith with a 2006 Toast to the Coast T-shirt. This year, the theme for Coast Episcopal School’s popular fundraiser is somehow painfully appropriate: “Gone with the Wind.”

“I came running out just because I love Shep,” said Housey.